Our November issue features a dramatic cover by an old Analog favorite, Vincent Di Fate, for a two-part serial by G. David Nordley, To Climb a Flat Mountain. If you’re marooned in an unfamiliar environment, obviously the first order of business is survival, which is even more of a challenge if, the more you learn about where you are, the less sense your surroundings make. The world Nordley has created here is one that shouldn’t even exist, but he’s done his usual admirable job of making it believable—and fascinating. Though that’s not necessarily the first word his maroonees would use to describe it, especially when they also have to deal with others who have different ideas of how to cope with it. . . .
We’ll also have a wide variety of stories by such writers as John G. Hemry, Craig DeLancey, and Jerry Oltion, plus a fact article, “Rock! Bye-Bye Baby!” by Edward M. Lerner. A growing number of people are gradually and grudgingly recognizing that seriously Earth-threatening asteroids are not just ancient history, and we could find a new one headed our way at any time. But exactly what can we do about it? Lerner tries to point us toward some practical possibilities—which we could need on very short notice.

It was a world that shouldn’t exist, but the problems it posed were all too real to those trapped there.

Jacques Song opened his eyes and saw a huge fish floating above the canopy of his cold sleep unit and staring at him. He shut them immediately; it must be a bad dream. People often had dreams as cold sleep evolved into normal sleep and wakefulness...